Welding robot installation 4.0 for the production of sprinkler pipes

Tyco Building Services Products AB is one of the world’s largest manufacturers and suppliers of fire safety products, such as sprinkler installations, water mist systems, gas systems, foam systems, fire extinguishers and fire detection systems. Every pipe, including the coupling, is made to exactly the right size. Tyco was the first manufacturer in Sweden to introduce 100% pre-fabrication, which has considerably reduced the on-site assembly time. The company currently distinguishes itself even further by reducing the delivery time to three weeks.

Use of semi-automation not sufficient

Until recently, Tyco Building Services Products used specialautomated systems to cut the holes in the long sprinkler installation pipes and also to weld the couplings on to the pipes. Each year, that easily adds up to over 200,000 couplings that are welded on to pipes. Manager Manufacturing Operation Ola Holgersson: “That process still involved too many actions and furthermore, the quality had to be improved, the capacity had to be increased and the automation had to provide a cost saving. So, two years ago, we started looking into the possibility of automating the production process with robots.”

Simple to program

Application engineer Geoffrey van den Driesche from Valk Welding programmed the positioning of the pipes, the cutting of the holes and the welding of the couplings for all the diameters of pipe used by the customer. The software programs have been split into separate programs for the handling robot and the cutting and welding robot. Switching between the plasma torch and the welding torch is automatically created. Geoffrey van den Driesche: “If the customer wants to use couplings of a different diameter, they can easily program the software with the aid of the macros that we have programmed for them.”

Support from Denmark

Service support was also a critical issue for the Swedish manufacturer. Ola Holgersson: “Valk Welding has proven that they can react quickly from their Danish branch office and that they provide excellent support from the Dutch head office. Marcel Dingemanse, Branch Manager Denmark: “We now have eight employees in Denmark, including a software specialist who recently underwent six months of training at the head office. From our branch office in Nørre Aaby (DK), we are now able to support our Swedish customers with every problem.”